AstraZeneca Licenses Rights to Cancer Drug in $320-Million Deal

AstraZeneca has agreed to license the commercial rights to Zoladex (goserelin acetate implant), a cancer drug, in the US and Canada to TerSera Therapeutics, a Cedar Rapids, Iowa-headquartered company that acquires, develops and markets specialty pharmaceutical products, in a deal worth up to $320 million.

Under the agreement, TerSera will pay AstraZeneca $250 million upon completion. AstraZeneca will also receive sales-related income through milestones totaling up to $70 million as well as recurring quarterly sales-based payments at mid-teen percent of product sales. AstraZeneca will also manufacture and supply Zoladex to TerSera.

Zoladex is an injectable luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonist for treating prostate cancer, breast cancer, and certain benign gynecological disorders that was first approved in the US and Canada in 1989. In 2016, sales for Zoladex were $69 million in the US and Canada, and $816 million globally.

AstraZeneca will continue to commercialize Zoladex in all markets outside the US and Canada. The transaction is expected to complete in the first quarter of 2017, subject to customary closing conditions. AstraZeneca will maintain a significant ongoing interest in Zoladex in the US and Canada through the sustainable and ongoing income from the upfront, milestone, quarterly sales-based, and supply payments received from TerSera.

The agreement does not include the transfer of any AstraZeneca employees or facilities.